A Quasi-Steady-State Lap Time Simulation for Electrified Race Cars

In motorsports, lap time simulation (LTS) is used by race engineers to evaluate the effects of setup changes on lap time and energy consumption. Many of the LTS published to date are no longer able to meet today's requirements because more and more racing series are introducing hybrid systems to improve powertrain efficiency. In addition, some racing series have purely electric powertrains. As a result, new types of LTS are needed that can represent the current state of technology. In addition to various powertrain types and topologies, this also includes the drag reduction system as well as the simulation of energy management strategies that control the distribution of energy within the hybrid system. For use as a co-simulation together with a race simulation, yellow flags and pit lanes should also be modeled. This paper presents an LTS that covers these aspects and, thanks to an improved quasi-steady-state solver, delivers accurate results within a short computing time. Particular emphasis was placed on easy parametrization, based on publicly available data. Exemplary results are shown for Formula 1 and Formula E cars on different racetracks. Three different energy management strategies are compared with regard to the most efficient use of the available energy.